Prolonged violence between the Government of Pakistan and militant groups in and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa displaced approximately 2.7 million individuals and created a humanitarian emergency. Most of the IDPs have returned back but with destroyed homes and property and with loss of jobs and businesses. Those children who lost their loved ones inthe conflict remain at high risk of trafficking and abuse. Urgent physical, social, economic and psychological rehabilitation is needed inthese troubled areas to safeguard children and other vulnerable people.

Pakistan also suffered its worst ever natural disaster on the morning of 8 October, 2005 when an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck a mountainous area of 28,000 square kilometres of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The death toll was estimated at 73,000 of which around 17,000 were school students. Around 3.5 million persons were left homeless, of which at least 60 per cent were women and children. Approximately 42,000 children were orphaned, 23,000 children were disabled and an estimated 17,300 women were widowed. Health facilities, water and sanitation schemes, schools, roads, communication systems and public offices were destroyed and agricultural land, livestock and forests were partially or fully lost. The disaster hit children and women particularly hard as many schools had just started morning classes and women were inside their homes when buildings collapsed.

In crisis situation like above, APDR plans to develop a data base of volunteers with their skills so that when an emergency strikes, the APDR volunteers can play their vital role in both emergency and planned missions. For volunteers to be effective, they need to be supported and co-ordinated. APDR has been training and mobilizing volunteers for emergency response and recovery efforts.

Alliance for Peace & Disability Rights, registered in Pakistan under societies registration Act XXI of 1860, No. 2388/5/6723 and in the United Kingdom as a company limited by guarantee No. 07247672